Where is the Constitutional Crisis with Procedural Safeguards and Due Process in Guardianship Adjudication?
– A. Frank Johns In 1987, the Associated Press published an expose on the state of guardianship in the United States , generating a storm of criticism of the guardianship system across the country. This expose, in part, led Mark Andrews to declare that American guardianship was in a state of constitutional crisis in his note, The Elderly in Guardianship: A Crisis of Constitutional Proportions, published in the Winter 1997 edition of The Elder Law Journal. In light of the significant amount of guardianship reform that has occurred in the United States over the last ten years, Mr. Johns questions the seriousness of this constitutional crisis and the need for continuing alarm. Before addressing the concerns raised by Mark Andrews’s note, Mr. Johns, recognizing the importance of using history as a bench mark for progress in the development of guardianship law, examines the development of guardianship over time. The author explores how guardianship law has developed since the ancient times
